Bill Belichick Will Name 2025 Starting Quarterback 'When We're Sure'

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — For most of Bill Belichick’s tenure in New England as the Patriots’ head coach, there was no question about who his starting quarterback would be to start the season.

Entering his first year at North Carolina, though, a starter for the 2025 season has not yet been named. Among others, the room currently features returner Max Johnson, who started the season opener last year before his sidelining femur injury kept him out for the year, and transfer Gio Lopez, who started at South Alabama last season. UNC added two true freshmen to the room, including four-star Bryce Baker, who served as the Pro Day quarterback for the Tar Heels.

Freshman Au’Tori Newkirk, redshirt-freshman Andres Miyares and sophomore DJ Mazzone are the other quarterbacks on the roster.

With the season opener against TCU less than a month away, Belichick said there isn’t a specific target date on when to name this year’s starter. He emphasized that performance in training camp will ultimately decide who gets the Week 1 nod. Belichick added that based on in-season performance, the competition could be ongoing.

“I think the time will be when we’re sure,” Belichick said on Saturday. “In my experience as a coach, at that position where you want to define who that is, what you generally don’t want to do is pick Player A and then end up going to Player B. Let them compete. And then once you’re sure it’s Player B, make it Player B or Player A, whoever it goes.

“So I think once we’re confident that we know who has earned that spot — because that’s what it’ll be, it’s not us picking them, it’ll be that player earning it — then we’ll decide on that. If it’s clear cut, then that player will be a player. If it’s not clear cut, maybe the competition will continue into the early part of the season… Whoever earns it is going to be who gets it.”

Johnson was a full participant in Saturday’s practice, and he said he’s 100% healthy now after last year’s catastrophic injury. He won last year’s quarterback competition against Conner Harrell after the two competed for the job in the spring and training camp. Johnson himself is a multi-year starter with SEC experience. He recorded 5,852 passing yards, 47 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions while completing 60.5% of his passes after playing 30 combined games at Texas A&M and LSU across four years.

Johnson reiterated Belichick’s comments on Saturday that the player who plays the best will win the starting job. He said that, for him personally, he’ll focus on day-to-day consistency in trying to secure the QB1 spot.

“It’s been a great time learning the offense with Coach Kitchens,” Johnson said. “It’s a little different scheme than what we’ve had in the past. But it’s something that I’ve kind of grown up doing, and I’ve learned so much under Coach Belichick. He’s a defensive coach, (I’m) kind of learning from that side of the ball and being able to pick up on things that we may have not known before, and I’m just learning as much as I can.”

Lopez, a lefty like Johnson, played in 11 of South Alabama’s 13 games last season and threw for 274.7 yards of total offense, ranking him No. 22 nationally in that category on the FBS level.

Lopez helped lead the Jaguars to an overall record of 7-6, including a 5-3 league mark in the Sun Belt Conference. Lopez finished fourth in the Sun Belt in passing (2,559 yards or 232.6 yards per game), fourth in touchdown passes (18), fourth in completion percentage (206-for-312 or 66 percent), and third in fewest interceptions (five). He also ran for 465 yards and seven touchdowns, while averaging 5.7 yards per carry.

At ACC Kickoff last week, Lopez said he’s still in the process of learning the playbook. He added that some concepts overlap with his existing football knowledge, but he’s working to master what the team has given him.

“It’s more of an NFL-like offense,” Lopez said last week of what the Tar Heels are running. “It’s different when you’re at South Alabama. You’re watching tape and you’re bringing up South Alabama tape. And then when you turn on tape with Kitchens, it’s the Patriots, or when he was the head coach with the Browns. You’re like, ‘Wow, I’m watching NFL guys, where I want to be, I’m watching them execute this play.’ So it’s been awesome learning from him. Especially him playing at Alabama (in college), he’s had experience at the position.”

Baker, who committed under Mack Brown, played the whole spring for North Carolina. He mostly competed against Ryan Browne, who transferred in from Purdue before transferring back there. This past season at Kernersville (N.C.) East Forsyth High, he completed 74.8% of his passes for 3,523 yards and 40 touchdowns with five interceptions. Newkirk totaled 8,838 yards and 114 touchdowns with a 72.5 completion percentage in his last two years at Norfolk (Va.) Maury High.

North Carolina started three quarterbacks last season, mostly relying on Jacolby Criswell. Criswell started 10 of UNC’s games and finished the season with 2,459 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 58.1% of his passes. He played only five snaps in the team’s Fenway Bowl loss to UConn as he sustained an injury in the first quarter. Michael Merdinger, who has since transferred away, replaced him in that game.

Belichick and his staff won’t rush their decision on naming a starting quarterback for this season, but Belichick acknowledged it’s “one of the key questions we’ll have to answer.”

“I don’t know who that’s gonna be, that will be up to them,” Belichick said. “But it certainly would be good to have that done before the first game and maybe even two weeks before the first game. The sooner the better, but it’s better to make the right decision than a quick decision.”